Concordia University Institutional Intercultural Communication Journal Response Sheet

Reading Journal Response Sheet
Part 1: Model for Reading Articles
Fill out each section
Full Citation in APA:
Keywords (your own keywords that jog your memory):
Main Arguments/Theories/Ideas:
Questions you have about the article:
Part 2: Prompts
Respond to one of the
prompts below (be sure to put which one you’re answering – delete the others).
1. What connections does this work have to you and your cultural identities?
2. How did this chapter or article change your understanding of the world?
3. How do the ideas in this chapter or article challenge, stretch, or violate your usual ways
of thinking?
4. Play devils advocate. Respond to this chapter from the opposite of your usual viewpoint.
5. How does this work relate to other chapters we have read? How do they engage in
dialogue?
6. Create your own prompt.
Chapter 2 / The History of the Study of Intercultural Communication
3I
THREE APPROACHES TO STUDYING
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Three contemporary approaches to studying intercultural communication are
the social science (sometimes caUed functionalist) approach, the interpretive ap­
proach, and the critical approach (fable 2-1). These approaches are based on dif­
ferent fundamental assumptions about human nature, human behavior, and the
nature of knowledge (Burrell & Morgan, 1988). Each one contributes in a unique
way to our understanding of the relationship between culture and communica­
tion. We can learn from each one while recognizing its limitations. These ap­
proaches vary in their assumptions about human behavior, their research goals,
their conceptualization of culture and communication, and their preferred
methodologies.
TABLE 2-1
THREE AP PROACHES TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Social science
(or functionalist)
Interpretive
Critical
Psychology
Anthropology,
sociolinguistics
Various
Describe arid
predict behavior
Describe behavior
Change behavior
Subjective
Subjective and
material
Predictable
Creative and
voluntary
Changeable
Method of study
Survey, observation
Participant
observation,
field study
Textual analysis of
media
Relationship of
culture and
communication
Communication
influenced by
culture
Culture created
and maintained
through
communication
Culture as a site of
power struggles
Contribution of the
approach
Identifies cultural
variations; recognizes
cultural differences
in many aspects of
communication,
but often does not
consider context
Emphasizes that
communication and
culture and cultural
differences should
be studied in
context
Recognizes the
economic and
political forces
in culture and
communication,
that all lntercultural interactions
are characterized
by power
Discipline on which
approach is founded
Research goal
Assumption of
reality
Assumptions of
human behavior
Extemaiand
describable
32
Part I/ Foundations oflntercultural Communication
To examine these three approaches, let us start with a situation that illustrates
a communication dilemma. In the early 1990s, Walt Disney Corporation opened
its European Disneyland near Marne-la-Vallee, just outside of Paris. This cor­
porate venture was plagued with problems from the beginning; by 1994, it was
deeply in debt. Newsweek writer Jolie Solomon observed:
Euro Disney hasfallen far short of the dream. A stunning 19 million people have
visited the park since it opened, a fact the company trumpets with devotion. But
it isn’t enough. The guests don’t spend enough time or money at the park, and no
one will buy the hotels Euro Disney had built and planned to sell. Euro Disney is
drowning in debt, and its stock has plunged. (Solam